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The History and Future of Illumination

  The first commercially available light bulb appeared in the 1880s, or over 140 years ago when there were only 42 states in the Union. Largely through the work of Thomas Edison and his associates, the incandescent “globe” spread rapidly. As electric power became available across the nation, sales reached hundreds of millions annually. The

Stage Lighting for Smaller Venues

  The transformative power of dynamic lighting is not just reserved for grand theaters. Smaller spaces like the community church or multi-purpose room also have the potential to radiate dramatic lighting, rivaling even the most extravagant houses of worship. But achieving this transformative effect requires more than just hanging a few lights; it demands meticulous

Are You Ready for a Lighting Upgrade?

  By Arlie Conner There are many churches, auditoriums and meeting rooms built in the last century that are overdue for a lighting system upgrade. The era of incandescent (tungsten-halogen) dominance is at an end, as LED light sources have proven reliable and affordable and offer multiple advantages. If your incandescent fixtures look okay, but

Christ Community Church Elevates Worship Experience with Lighting Upgrade

  One of five Christ Community campuses in the greater Chicago area, Christ Community’s St. Charles/South Elgin location recently received a key lighting and house lighting upgrade of Elation Professional Fuze Profile and Fuze Pendant fixtures. The new lighting system offers the church greater flexibility in creating lighting atmospheres while adding an immersive element to

Getting the Right Lighting for Your Worship Space

  By Scott Kinnebrew I remember the early days of making copies of sermons on cassette and learning just how many people benefitted from having access to them. It wasn’t always the kinds of restrictions you would think might keep a person from attending church in person, but having access to these recordings helped so

Stage Gear for Special Events

  By Scott Kinnebrew The modern church has become more than just a place for worship; it is a center point of the community, a gathering place, a location for celebration. Be it a guest speaker, a wedding, a theatrical or musical performance, a holiday celebration, fundraiser, festival, or other special event, there are very

Genoa Church

  Genoa Church in Westerville, Ohio, partnered with Paragon 360 in the construction and design of their new worship center. This rapidly growing congregation had reached the maximum capacity of their multipurpose gymnasium and was ready to create the space and atmosphere that they wanted. The Paragon 360 team worked with them from the very

Power of Clean Energy (PCE) Brings Lighting Solution to Hermitage Hills Baptist Church

  Hermitage Hills Baptist is a church based in Nashville, Tennessee. For the last three years, Mike Brown, the facility manager, has been serving the church and working to improve the campus. We interviewed Brown about his experience working with PCE. How did the church first hear about Power of Clean Energy? When I started

LED Lighting Enhances Your Worship Services and Your Bottom Line

  By Jeff Carey LED lighting has become a focal point of the visual aspect of churches, along with the benefits of energy and maintenance savings. Many churches are now open seven days a week, and effective LED lighting projects can offset a good portion of these costs. Enhancing the worship experience has become a

Elation House Lighting Solution Gives Tennessee Church a Fresh, New Look

  A fresh wash of dynamic light from Elation Fuze Pendant house downlights has helped transform The First Family/First Baptist Church’s sanctuary from a more ordinary space with uneven illumination to a modern-looking house of worship more reflective of today’s contemporary worship. Seeking to upgrade its more traditional house lighting to something more state of

A Church Remodel to Serve a Multi-Generational Congregation

  Although church attendance has been down due to the pandemic, churches and businesses are still investing in projects of all kinds. Ridgecrest Baptist Church chose to do this project to help reach more and more people of all demographics. While it is helping them during the pandemic, it will also continue to help them

The Financial Benefits of Going Green

  By Aaron Schafer In an effort to be good financial stewards during the COVID-19 crisis, many churches have turned to an unlikely ally: energy efficiency. Across the country, churches are grappling with a new reality as a result of COVID-19. While many churches have begun to transition back to in-person gatherings, there are still

How a Compact Aerial Lift Can Help with Sanctuary Lighting Projects

   By Paul Ptak Working above 30 feet inside a sanctuary can be a real challenge today. With ever-higher ceilings, architectural beams, and seating and pews in the way, it can be difficult to reach the highest points for lighting, maintenance, A/C duct cleaning, emergency light batteries, ceiling repairs or the popular LED lighting retrofit.

Huge LED Retrofit at Olive Baptist Church

  In 2019, Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida, made the decision to upgrade both their stage and house lighting systems in their main sanctuary, a huge undertaking that meant replacing over 600 lighting fixtures. “We decided to replace every tungsten light that illuminated in the room with an LED fixture,” said Bobby Taylor, tech

Crown Design Group and Absen Create Inspirational Sanctuary Environment for Action Church

  As one of the fastest growing churches in the United States, Action Church has become a community fixture in local Orlando areas, including Oviedo, Sanford and Winter Garden. Most recently, Action Church expanded its reach when it opened its newest location in Winter Park, Florida, as its first large, non-mobile location. “We exist here

Creating a Balanced and Colorful Worship Design

  Dedicated to creating a welcoming and authentic relationship with their congregation, Bannockburn Church is a sanctuary filled with encouragement and bonded through a common faith. Located near Austin, Texas, the church recently made the decision to renovate their outdated production design behind the worship environment, and they needed a partner to make the design

7 Benefits of LED Stage and House of Worship Lighting

We’ve come a long way since the days of limited LED color choices and high expense. The cost of LED lighting keeps coming down, but it still hasn’t reached parity with traditional lighting. Or has it? There are more factors to consider than just the sticker price, so let’s investigate whether any long-term savings make

First Baptist Church at the Fields

  First Baptist Church at the Fields (formerly First Baptist Church, Carrollton, Texas) had added a second campus in 2016 for their contemporary services known as Church at the Fields. The goal was to eventually build additional space on the new site in which to relocate the entire campus to the Fields location. In 2018,

Improving Your Church Lighting

By Jim Sweeney How much easier would video streaming be if those watching at home could easily overlook murky audio, poor camera angles and insufficient lighting? But they don’t. We’ve all seen too many movies and TV shows to let us ignore those deficiencies. Of course, the members of your church don’t expect a movie-quality

Why Churches Should Start Seeing AVL as a Service

If you’re used to being the place your community comes for existential help, you might not always recognize it when you need it yourself. Point blank, help is the hardest thing to ask for when you’re “supposed” to have it all together. As a church production team, you’re juggling events throughout the week, services on

Getting Versatile with Lighting

Theaters of one kind or another have long played a role in the growth of Christ Community Church in St. Charles, Illinois. Just before Christmas 1984, the suburban Chicago church, which was founded by four couples, held its first service in a rented movie theater. Christ Community has since grown into a thriving four-campus house

CCI Solutions Upgrades Calvary Chapel with Martin Audio CDD

The Calvary Chapel in East Anaheim, California, recently underwent a significant audio and lighting upgrade with a full complement of Martin Audio CDD speakers installed by CCI Solutions of Seattle, Nashville and Los Angeles. Asked about the system design and installation for Calvary, CCI Project Manager Justin Geoghegan responded, “The main challenge was providing even

Impactful Worship with Elation Lighting at Cascade Hills Church

While many churches struggle to attract new members or keep current ones, Cascade Hills Church in Columbus, Georgia, has found success by keeping things fresh and presenting church as more than just an hour-a-week event to endure. With the knowledge that AV and dynamic lighting systems can positively impact the overall worship experience, Cascade Hills

Illuminating the Worship Experience

Church of the Highlands recently updated their main Birmingham, Alabama, facility with a complete lighting package by HARMAN Professional Solutions, comprised entirely of Martin fixtures. Founded in 2001 by senior pastor Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands is a non-denominational multi-site church with headquarters in Birmingham and 16 additional satellite campuses across Alabama. With an

What Do You Need to Get Started with Stage Lighting at Your Church?

By David Henry Getting started with lighting can be difficult and confusing. If you simply want mediocre lighting, this isn’t the place to be. However, if you want to create dynamic, interesting and inspiring lighting, I will walk you through exactly how to get started with lighting at your church below. Even if you need

Artiste DaVinci Has What It Takes at Oklahoma's Guts Church

Guts Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is not your average house of worship. Founding pastor Bill Scheer, who has an affinity for leather and motorcycles, started the ministry in 1992 for people who don’t necessarily like church. Since then, the church has steadily grown to encompass three campuses, and today is one of Tulsa’s largest congregations.

Robotic Camera and Light Tracking Technology

It’s common knowledge that it’s difficult to maximize the quality of your video production when you must rely on volunteers to operate the cameras. Your goal is to provide the best audio and visual experience for those watching your video stream, as well as those in the facility where IMAG and sound reinforcement systems should

Eight Churches Using Cutting-Edge Products to Enhance Their Modern Services

1. Maranatha Church in Forest Lake, Minnesota No one can ever accuse this church of being shy or timid in its worship style. Pastor Bob Headley will be the first to acknowledge that the sound inside the 1,000-plus-seat sanctuary can get both enthusiastic and loud. Until recently, the church’s existing sound system could not keep

Lighting & Staging: Blending Timeless Looks and Technology

A building can often be more than a mere amalgamation of bricks and mortar. Beyond providing shelter, it can also call forth a strong sense of shared experiences and values. This is especially true when that building is a house of worship with deep roots in its community. It was with this awareness that South

Dynamic Lighting Is a Conduit to Faith

Across Eastside Christian Church’s three Southern California campuses, lighting is used to help congregants take a respite from their hectic life and open up to new possibilities. “The lighting helps create the atmosphere to allow people to let their guard down and relax,” explains Cameron Bentley, Eastside’s production engineer and lighting director. “Our hope is

Church Theater Gets Versatile with Lighting Upgrade

Theaters of one kind or another have long played a role in the growth of Christ Community Church in St. Charles, Illinois. Just before Christmas 1984, the suburban Chicago church, which was founded by four couples, held its first service in a rented movie theater. Christ Community has since grown into a thriving four-campus house

Lighting Helps Connect with Students

University Christian Church in Manhattan, Kansas, home to Kansas State University, is a fast-growing church with a large college attendance population. The ministry outgrew its existing multipurpose venue and brought in Elation dealer House Right of Lexington, Kentucky, to oversee a new theatrical and house lighting design for a new 1,000-seat space on their existing

Pendants Enhance Contemporary Worship

Michigan’s Mount Pleasant Community Church has upgraded their outdated lighting system with a dynamic LED solution that features new Elation Professional Colour Pendant color-changing LED luminaires. Specified and installed by full-service integrator and production/rental company LiveSpace of Grand Rapids, the Colour Pendants add a dynamic element to the space that mirrors the congregation itself. The
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